Scan barcode
silasburke's review against another edition
5.0
holy shit so good. Masterful craft in terms of the dual narration, wonderful characters, stunning details.
craftsbury's review against another edition
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Thought provoking; some religion but in an introspective way. Good character development. Good for a book group discussion.
riestenberger's review against another edition
5.0
My aunt recommended this to me and I wasn't sure about it since it had so much to do with religion.
BUT HOLY COW.
This book was absolutely amazing. It took me a little while to get into it, especially since the story was not told chronologically. Once I did get into though, I was very happy that it was not told chronologically. This book was unlike anything I have ever read and I cannot wait to get my hands on the next book. I would highly recommend this book to any sci-fi fan.
BUT HOLY COW.
This book was absolutely amazing. It took me a little while to get into it, especially since the story was not told chronologically. Once I did get into though, I was very happy that it was not told chronologically. This book was unlike anything I have ever read and I cannot wait to get my hands on the next book. I would highly recommend this book to any sci-fi fan.
cygnusxxii's review against another edition
5.0
this is maybe the most important book to me that i’ve ever read. five stars is not enough. have to pack for college but i’m sitting immobilized on my bed. holy shit
milobubba's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
lilykbond's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
holy shit. I picked this up as a non sci-fi or fantasy person because the concept sounding so promising. and it DELIVERED and more. i also love alien stuff, but this is so much more. truthfully more than an alien story it’s a story about humans, love, and faith. it’s a masterpiece. one of those books that is so fanstastical yet the emotions it evoked in me made me feel like this was real, like Rakhat is really out there. i will be buying a copy so i can reread.
i’d also like to note that i dreamed last night of Rakhat. only one other book has created a foreign world so beautiful yet frightening that it’s appeared in my dreams.
i’d also like to note that i dreamed last night of Rakhat. only one other book has created a foreign world so beautiful yet frightening that it’s appeared in my dreams.
shy_honeybee's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
sapphoire's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
paulinia's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
mcloonejack's review against another edition
5.0
I am rarely one to take books at much more than face value, especially works of science fiction (though I was delighted to see that I wasn’t the only one who thinks this belongs outside, or at least on the edges, of the genre if only to manage reader expectations), but when you send some Jesuits and their friends into space, while also dealing the the Godly ramifications of an unknown catastrophe at the same time, I’m going to start to think.
As a pure story, I found Mary Doria Russell’s craft to be deeply engaging, particularly her character work. Is she playing on some tropes here? Sure. But the way she threads together three/four disparate groups — our main space crew (further subdivided in interesting ways, with all of our characters sharing moments with others), the Jesuits in Florence/Naples and their hearings and the sentient beings of Rakhat — is done with care and nuance. This is, by the end, a book with no villains, except maybe one, and even that is disputed: God.
The love you feel of the whole crew, and the different flavors of it — found family, romantic love, religious, staunchly-anti religious, etc — is allowed to flourish, but not, to me, in a way that felt like dead weight (which I’ll get to in a moment). Particularly the relationship between Emilio and Anne (an obvious author surrogate for MDR, who also has a PhD in social anthropology, and therefore the speaker of some of the funniest dialogue in the book. I respect this) is beautiful to watch unfold. We should all wish for an Anne in our lives, as an adopted mother figure or otherwise. I don’t want this review to drag on, but know that the character development of the priests and even some of the sapients is careful and beautiful as well.
As I alluded to before, MDR has a talent for dripping out the plot in what was a character- and introspection-driven novel in a way that strings you along and not realize just how much time is being spent on interpersonal relationships. The mystery of what happened, what went so wrong on Rakhat unfolds gradually, but I never felt frustrated for more. Every time it felt like I needed a new piece of the puzzle, right on time it would arrive. And more often than not, the reader is able to either explicitly get or is able to tease out the reactions of nearly every character to major events, again in a way that didn’t feel burdensome. This itself was a remarkable feat.
And the plot itself was stellar. It was creative, twisty in ways that felt earned, and as mentioned above, paced in a way I found agreeable.
Now to the deep thinking: this is, at its core, a book about God. Does He (to use the pronoun favored by the book) choose for us what happens? Is He the driving force? If so, as Anne asks, why do we only give Him credit for the good things, but none of the blame for the bad?
Emilio’s struggles with his faith, as a man some characters refer to as a budding saint, is the emotional core of this novel, and it’s not a spoiler to say the reader is left with an unsatisfactory answer. And it’s not unintentional; the question is among the most fraught humanity has ever dreamed up. But the Job-like experience Emilio has gone through provides a stunning lens for the question, as does the mix of priests and laypeople on the excursion.
Not to be forgotten, the actual sci-fi elements here are engaging in their own right. Learning more and more about the societies of the beings of Rakhat (walking on eggshells here to avoid spoilers) is as rewarding and in-depth as the works of sci-fi masters. We learn what we need to learn as readers, and what falls outside of that is engaging, and what we don’t know for certain provides really interesting questions on their own. My gears were turning alongside the crew the entire time, trying to tease out what would be the effect of their actions, and how things could have gone so wrong.
Overall, this cross between sci-fi and religious drama is going to stick with me a long, long time. What a masterpiece.
As a pure story, I found Mary Doria Russell’s craft to be deeply engaging, particularly her character work. Is she playing on some tropes here? Sure. But the way she threads together three/four disparate groups — our main space crew (further subdivided in interesting ways, with all of our characters sharing moments with others), the Jesuits in Florence/Naples and their hearings and the sentient beings of Rakhat — is done with care and nuance. This is, by the end, a book with no villains, except maybe one, and even that is disputed: God.
The love you feel of the whole crew, and the different flavors of it — found family, romantic love, religious, staunchly-anti religious, etc — is allowed to flourish, but not, to me, in a way that felt like dead weight (which I’ll get to in a moment). Particularly the relationship between Emilio and Anne (an obvious author surrogate for MDR, who also has a PhD in social anthropology, and therefore the speaker of some of the funniest dialogue in the book. I respect this) is beautiful to watch unfold. We should all wish for an Anne in our lives, as an adopted mother figure or otherwise. I don’t want this review to drag on, but know that the character development of the priests and even some of the sapients is careful and beautiful as well.
As I alluded to before, MDR has a talent for dripping out the plot in what was a character- and introspection-driven novel in a way that strings you along and not realize just how much time is being spent on interpersonal relationships. The mystery of what happened, what went so wrong on Rakhat unfolds gradually, but I never felt frustrated for more. Every time it felt like I needed a new piece of the puzzle, right on time it would arrive. And more often than not, the reader is able to either explicitly get or is able to tease out the reactions of nearly every character to major events, again in a way that didn’t feel burdensome. This itself was a remarkable feat.
And the plot itself was stellar. It was creative, twisty in ways that felt earned, and as mentioned above, paced in a way I found agreeable.
Now to the deep thinking: this is, at its core, a book about God. Does He (to use the pronoun favored by the book) choose for us what happens? Is He the driving force? If so, as Anne asks, why do we only give Him credit for the good things, but none of the blame for the bad?
Emilio’s struggles with his faith, as a man some characters refer to as a budding saint, is the emotional core of this novel, and it’s not a spoiler to say the reader is left with an unsatisfactory answer. And it’s not unintentional; the question is among the most fraught humanity has ever dreamed up. But the Job-like experience Emilio has gone through provides a stunning lens for the question, as does the mix of priests and laypeople on the excursion.
Not to be forgotten, the actual sci-fi elements here are engaging in their own right. Learning more and more about the societies of the beings of Rakhat (walking on eggshells here to avoid spoilers) is as rewarding and in-depth as the works of sci-fi masters. We learn what we need to learn as readers, and what falls outside of that is engaging, and what we don’t know for certain provides really interesting questions on their own. My gears were turning alongside the crew the entire time, trying to tease out what would be the effect of their actions, and how things could have gone so wrong.
Overall, this cross between sci-fi and religious drama is going to stick with me a long, long time. What a masterpiece.